The first graphene samples made into electronic devices came from flakes exfoliated from bulk graphite, and were only a few microns in size [1]}, [2]}. The discovery that graphene could also be grown over large areas, using a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process on metal films, opened up many technological possibilities that were unimaginable with exfoliated flakes. One application proposed in the early days of graphene research was spintronics, making use of potentially long spin lifetimes in carbon-based materials. Although the hope of graphene spintronics persists, experimental realizations remain less impressive than theoretical proposals [3]}, [4]}.
